Ashes To Ambers
by lg6884
Summary: Although Flame Princess no longer has any interest in dating him, she'd still like to stay friends with Finn. But what happens when she receives a call from Finn saying he can never see her again? You'll just have to read to find out. This is my' first try at a romance, I hope you at least enjoy it.
1. The Call

"Who's next?" The king of the Fire Kingdom, Flame Princess called out to the large line of her happily awaiting subjects from atop her throne. But before the next citizen could step forward, a guard approached her' throne. Carrying a telephone.

"It's for you your highness." The guard said, patiently awaiting for her to pick up the phone.

"Hello?" Flame Princess said, not entirely sure who could be calling her.

"Hey FP..." Flame Princess heard Finn's voice say, sounding a little nervous.

Flame Princess was actually happy to hear Finn's voice, she had recently invited him over to attend her birthday party. She still had no interest in dating him anymore, but Flame Princess did still consider Finn &amp; Jake good friends. So she'd periodically invite the two of them over. They rarely ever made it, usually notifying her why either before the party or the next day. She'd still however have a plate at her' royal table set for them just in case. The most recent reason they couldn't attend however never left her' mind. Before her last dinner party, Jake called to say that he and Finn wouldn't be able to make it because they were looking for Finn's father... Ever since then, she's been throwing parties at least once a week so she could invite them over and possibly learn what he is like; an honest man with a kind heart like Finn, for the most part, or if he was just brave and adventurous. Wondering what Finn's father is like constantly caused Flame Princess to seem off task, except when dealing with her people.

"Hey Finn." Flame Princess said with a smile, because hearing Finn's voice usually meant she'd get to see them.

...

There was a long silence, almost as if Finn had put down the phone and left.

"Finn?" Flame Princess said into the phone.

"Sorry... I dropped the phone." Flame Princess heard Finn's voice finally say.

"It's nice hearing from you again." Flame Princess said in a sincere voice.

This isn't gonna be easy... Finn said to himself.

"I'm not gonna be able to make it to your' party." Finn said.

"Oh." Flame Princess said, feeling saddened to hear Finn say this.

"It's okay, maybe next time?" Flame Princess said, her' tone normalizing as she spoke.

"I... I can't." Finn said, his voice carrying a mournful tone.

"Why not?" Flame Princess asked, feeling as if she can't simply let their conversation end on that.

"Because, I can never see you again." Finn said, his tone void of any emotion.

"What? Why?" Flame Princess asked, her hair starting to grow and shake.

"Because I can't visit you anymore" Finn said in a rushed voice.

"Because..." Flame Princess said immediately.

"Because I'm keeping a secret from you!" Finn said, again in a rushed tone.

"I still love you..." Finn said as Flame Princess heard Finn hang up.

"Finn?!" Flame Princess said repeatedly.

Flame Princess soon realized how large and violent her hair had grown, from her stressful conversation, and took a deep, calming breath.

"I'm fine, my ex boyfriend just told me he still loves me. And that he can't see me anymore. Also that he's keeping a secret from me." Flame Princess, showing that she's as honest to her people as they are to her, said to the room.

Her people were silent, they understood that experiencing something like that can be off putting, especially for one with her responsibilities.

"Who's next?" Flame Princess said with a reassuring smile as her hair returned to normal.

The guard quietly walked away as the next person approached her' throne.

After her' phone call, Flame Princesses' day went about as it usually did. She helped as many people as she could, took a long bath in a volcano, and then got dressed for bed. But she soon realized that she was about to be late for her' own birthday party, got out of bed, (silently apologizing to the maid under her breath) got out of her pajamas, and put on her party gown. As soon as she made sure she was fully dressed, Flame Princess hurried to the ballroom. To her surprise, waiting for her outside was none other than her' most trusted friend and knight: Cinnamonbun.

"Er you okay Flame Princess?" Cinnamonbun asked.

"I'm not too sure Cinnamonbun." Flame Princess, refusing to lie to him of all people, admitted.

"It's Finn again, isn't it?" Cinnamonbun, knowing Flame Princess, asked.

"He said he can never see me again and that he loves me. But before I could say anything, he hung up. It made me feel weird." Flame Princess confided to Cinnamonbun.

"I've never had boyfriend trouble before. But when Finn was younger, he had a crush on Princess Bubblegum. Whenever he was around her, Finn felt _weird_." Cinnamonbun informed Flame Princess.

"Finn had a crush on _her_? Wow." Flame Princess thought aloud.

"But I don't have a crush on him, I feel like he might need my help." Flame Princess explained.

"Finn's Finn, he'll be fine." Cinnamonbun assured Flame Princess.

"I don't know CB, he sounded really sad and last week Jake said something about Finn finding his father." Flame Princess continued to explain.

"They found Finn's father? That's great. What's he like?" Cinnamonbun asked, showing some interest in Finn's father.

"I don't know, he never told me." Flame Princess said.

"Attention party goers, the King has arrived!" one of the guards called from inside the ballroom.

"I have to go, but we'll talk more later." Flame Princess said before she finally attended her party.

It was after seeing Cinnamonbun disappear behind the waves of her citizens that Flame Princess came to an uneasy conclusion, that she'll need to confront Finn. Even if it meant resorting to a meeting with the monarch of the Candy Kingdom and the one who advised that her dad to lock her up: Princess Bubblegum.

After about an hour or so, Flame Princess was already starting to grow bored with this party. None of the citizens felt worth enough to actually have a conversation with her, so all she really did was watch other people have fun. Until she noticed a blue tinted figure dancing among her people. It wasn't Cinnamonbun, who was never that into parties in the Fire Kingdom, so there weren't many possibilities for whom it might be.

With her curiosity in overdrive, Flame Princess carefully made her way over to her unknown guest. Stealthily slipping in between her subjects. To Flame Princesses' surprise, it was a flame shielded Jake The Dog.

"Jake?" Flame Princess said in a confused voice.

"Hey Flame Princess, happy birthday girl." Jake said, happily grinning as he continued to dance.

"Thanks, it's good seeing you again." Flame Princess said, sporting a weak smile as she said it.

"Everything alright, you seem a little off." Jake, still dancing, said showing some concern on his face.

"I don't know. Ever since Finn called earlier, I've been feeling worried. Is he alright?" Flame Princess confined to Jake.

"Finn's fine. But he lost an arm because of his lousy dad." Jake, fuming at the thought of Martin said.

"He what!" Flame Princess exclaimed, her emotions getting the better of her as she grew ten times her normal size.

Realizing she was making a scene, Flame Princess refrained to her' normal stature.

"I have something important to take care of, Cinnamonbun's in charge until I get back." Flame Princess announced.

"Jake I need you to take me to Finn, now." Flame Princess said as she gripped the magic dog's shoulders.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

**This'll be the first romance story I've ever written. It's a little nerve racking. I can't wait for the big reveal. I hope it won't take me forever to get to it.**


	2. The Present & The Dream

"I'm sorry princess, but I can't do that. I can't risk you hurting him." Jake said, backing out of Flame Princesses grip.

"So you're telling me... the ruler of the Fire Kingdom no?" Flame Princess said, using a tone that told Jake that he _will_ take her to Finn. Causing the entire party to pause.

"I'm sorry, but this is one thing where you're not gonna change my mind." Jake said, not fazed by Flame Princesses tone. Making the party goers grow more concerned.

"Jake you know I still consider you a friend, right?" Flame Princess asked.

"Mmhmm mmhmm, me too mmhmm." Jake said.

"And you know that in my kingdom secrets are against the law, right? Flame Princess said in a leading voice.

"Yes." Jake replied, a little ignorant to the point Flame Princess was trying to make.

"So I'm not gonna have my guards arrest you, but I'm gonna have to ask you to leave as a warning." Flame Princess, politely, said.

"Alright, alright. I'll leave..." Jake said as he stretched his right leg out the door, causing the party to slowly continue. Acting like nothing happened, that Flame Princess cared how they'd react.

"After I give you this." Jake said as he handed a flame shielded piece of paper with a ribbon wrapped around it.

Before Flame Princess could say another word, Jake stretched his way out of the ballroom. Confused, Flame Princess decided to wait until after the party before she'd open it. She decided this so she could talk to Cinnamonbun about whatever was written on it. The party raved on until the entire Land of Ooo was silent (around 3:00 A.M.) After the last of the guests left, Flame Princess met with a patiently waiting Cinnamonbun just outside the ballroom.

"Did you have fun?" Cinnamon asked.

"Yeah it was nice." Flame Princess said with a weak smile.

"What's wrong, still thinking about what Finn said?" Cinnamonbun asked.

"It's not just that." Flame Princess confessed.

"Does it involve Jake?" Cinnamonbun guessed.

"How'd you know?" Flame Princess, moderately impressed, asked.

"I saw him when he came in." Cinnamonbun said with a pause.

"And when he stretched out." Cinnamonbun added.

"He told me I can never see Finn again and then he gave me this." Flame Princess said as she held out the paper, which unbeknownst to her slowly began to burn from a slowly fizzling flame shield...

"Wah!" Flame Princess screeched as the flame shield wore off completely and the paper quickly began to become engulfed in flames.

"I'll read it." Cinnamonbun said as he quickly grabbed the burning paper.

_"Dear Flame Princess,_

_I'm sorry I couldn't be there in person, but I'd like to wish you a very happy birthday. I wish I could've been there. Even if you're not into me, I still want you to know I love you._

_Love Finn_

_Ps. Here's one of the flowers you accidentally burned the first time we met. It reminds me of you because I think you're a cute little flower."_

Cinnamonbun read aloud as the flower fell to the floor and the note quickly became a pile of ashes and glowing embers.

"Oh no!" Flame Princess said as she quickly reached for the slowly burning flower, only for her hand to be stopped by Cinnamonbun.

Without saying another word, Cinnamon quickly grabbed the flower and shoved it into his mouth. Causing Flame Princess mild discomfort until Cinnamonbun opened his mouth with a thumbs up, revealing the flowers flames were now extinguished. After seeing all this, Flame Princess let out a sigh of relief. But after the sigh, Flame Princess had another frown on her face. Not one of stress, but of confusion.

"Is everything alright?" Cinnamonbunn asked, his speech slurred because of the flower.

"No. I thought I was over him, but now all I can think of is Finn." Flame Princess said in a defeated voice, remembering the times she shared with Finn. Good and bad.

"Then you should go see him." Cinnamonbun said, still housing the flower in his mouth.

"But Finn and Jake both told me I can't." Flame Princess, wanting to honor their' wishes said.

"Besides, I've got too many responsibilities to just leave." Flame Princess said, keeping what's best for her people in mind over her wants and needs.

"Isn't one of them making sure everyone's happy?" Cinnamonbun asked, his words sounding clear despite the roof of his mouth being tickled.

"Of course." Flame Princess said.

"Then shouldn't you try making your self happy?" Cinnamonbun, cunningly, asked with the flower's stem sliding around his tongue.

Flame Princess was at a loss of words, Cinnamonbun was right. She continuously debated whether or not she should go. She knew that everything would be alright with Cinnamonbun in charge for a day. But, giving the circumstances, she couldn't tell if it was the right thing to do. It wasn't soon after that the pair decided to turn into their rooms for the night.

In her dream, Flame Princess saw Finn's unmistakable figure silhouetted in a large grassy plain at night. She could hear him delightfully chuckling and laughing happily. Like when they dated. But before she could walk over to him, she saw a shadowy figure approach him. The figure appeared to be one that belonged to a female, with particularly long hair. Flame Princess was confused as the figure and Finn, who was a little shorter, seemed to stare at each other. But that confusion soon turned to jealousy as the figure grabbed Finn's left hand, his right of course missing, and began slowly moving it down to her hip. Flame Princesses jealousy soon grew even more as she saw Finn and the girl slowly begin to dance. Flame Princess began to angrily shout at the two, but all she heard come out of her mouth was "Wah wah wah." As Finn and the figure stopped dancing, Flame Princesses temper began to die down. Until she saw Finn and the figure begin locking lips. This caused Flame Princess to finally loose control and launch fireballs at the girl. But what happened instead was, instead of the girl, every one of the fireballs hit Finn! Finn let out a loud agonizing scream as he quickly turned to Flame Princes, slowly becoming engulfed in the flames. The last thing Flame Princess heard before she woke up, her chest repeatedly retracting from the fear, was Finn and Jake's voices saying "We told you to stay away."

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Well that got dark really fast...

Does Flame Princesses dream mean she should stay away from Finn, or to hurry up before it's too late? Is she really over Finn? And why can't she ever see Finn again?

Hopefully we'll find out soon. Thank you all for the support and I hope you guys like this story enough to stick with it. Feel free to check out mine or one of my friends stories. I hope you've liked this story so far. Especially since this is my first _real_ romance.


	3. The Walk

As she slowly calmed down, Flame Princess couldn't help but bombard herself with troubling thoughts. Flame Princess knew it was just a dream, but one of her issues was that she didn't understand how to interpret it. The other being that this was one problem that Cinnamonbun couldn't help her with this. Flame Princess decided that the only thing she could do was take a walk and hope it can relaxe her.

Flame Princess decided that for this particular walk, she'd like to have it outside the kingdom. So she sent for two of her guards to meet her at the entrance to the castle. After roughly seven minutes, the two guards arrived to escort her. They seemed nice, occasionally trying to strike a conversation with her. But Flame Princess was too far gone in her train of thoughts to even respond. She might not even be fully aware that she's still on her walk. This indeed proved to be the case, as she felt both her guards grab her by the wrists and pull her backwards. As she quickly returned to reality; Flame Princess realized that, possibly from memory, she had walked to the house Finn built for her when they first started dating.

"Are you alright your' highness?" one of the guards asked.

"Uh yeah, sorry about. I wasn't watching where I was going." Flame Princess said.

"I can see why. With a view like this, I'm surprised no one's thought to build a house here." the other guard added.

"Actually... I used to live over there." Flame Princess, wearing a subtle grin, said as she pointed to the exact location her former house stood.

"Have you been here recently? Because even though your' reign started months ago, this wood looks like it was cut down less than a week ago." the guard added.

"Are you sure?" Flame Princess asked, unable to think of any more diverse words she could've used to ask her' guards.

"Positive your highness." The guard said.

"Your' highness, get down." The other guard said as he forced Flame Princess to crouch on the grown.

Before Flame Princess could demand an explanation, both guards launched fireballs into the forest.

"You check the perimeter, I'll keep the king secure." One of the guards said to the other.

The guard carefully approached the forest, being hesitant to enter without knowing what may be lurking inside it. It didn't take him long to hear something rustling in a particularly plant covered area. It had thick bushes, shrubs and thick trees, until the guard launched a fireball in that general direction in an attempt to flambé whatever might have been looking there until it was _extra crispy._ After the fire began to spread, the trees branches appeared to have picked up a strong wind, because it looked as if the trees were patting the fires out. The guard was so lost in a state of both confusion and astonishment that he couldn't hear the faint noise that could hardly be heard due to the dying sound of the crackling fire. Without any warning, the guard felt something wrap around his ankle. It moved slowly, like a snake. By the time the guard looked at his ankle, he felt a ferocious tug that caused him to completely loose his balance and hit his head hard on the grassy forest floor. The blunt force of the fall was enough to daze the guard, but not enough to knock him... or anyone really unconscious.

"Hey, I'm stuck." the ensnared guard called out.

"What do you want me to do?" the guard protecting Flame Princess asked.

"Just get the King to safety." the guard suspended in the air by his ankle called out.

Hearing what the trapped guard said was all the reasoning the princess of flames guard needed to pick her up and take her as far away as he could, as fast as he could. Though she may have taken the mantle of "flame king," Flame Princesses orders for the guard to release her were outweighed by the guards' urge to protect his ruler. Once the guard had carried her around half a mile or so away, not knowing where he unintentionally took her to, the guard set Flame Princess down. To her' surprise, she was within throwing distance of Finn &amp; Jake's treehouse.

"Hey, that's Finn and Jake's house." Flame Princess thought to herself.

Flame Princess was lost, too busy debating with herself on whether or not she should go up to their front door and knock so that she may talk to and/or give Finn a visit. She was so out of it that she didn't hear her guard asking her what she wants to do, or a certain magical dog walking towards them. Soon enough however, FP's guard got in front of her and pointed his spear towards Jake.

"Do not take another step closer and kneel before the presence of flame king." the guard ordered, nay demanded.

Jake's eyebrows sunk to the point where his eyes looked like upside down taco shells, his facial expression read "are you serious?" and he took another step forward.

"Hey, I just said 'Do not take another step closer!' Now stop taking another step closer!" the guard said in a threatening way.

Jake spun around and, mockingly as well as defiantly, started to moonwalk towards the guard. The guard was ready to jab the tip of his spear deep int Jake's back, but was stopped by the no longer distracted Flame Princess grabbing his shoulder.

"Hey Jake, is Finn home." Flame Princess said before her guard could put up an argument.

Rather than turning his body around again, so that he talk to Flame Princess face to face, the lazy shape changing dog rotated just his head around so his' eyes could lock with the princesses. Seeing this disturbed the guard a little bit, while Flame Princess was unimpressed.

"Nope, he's off hanging with a lady friend." Jake said in a casual voice.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

**Based upon the previous chapter; I'm not sure how I should make Flame Princess react right now, so I deliberately ended this chapter on that cliff hanger. Why is it that no ones ever made Jake do the moonwalk before?!**

**I'm not sure if I'll continue this, or any of my other stories for that matter. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to finish this chapter. I question if I even like writing anymore, it's becoming more and more like work rather than fun.**


	4. The Burn

"A lady friend...?" Flame Princess repeated, her heart feeling a little betrayed as well as worried because of her dream.

"Yeah, Finn's been hanging with her a lot since he lost his arm." Jake said, his tone saddened by his last few words.

What Jake said made her feel worse, was what Finn told her just another lie? Was this 'lady friend' supposed to be her replacement since she just wanted to be friends? These questions made her melon-heart hurt, and made Flame Princess wonder more and more if she was just worried about him or if she possibly wanted to be more than his friend. Flame Princesses body language, and the frantic movement of her hair, told Jake that what he said troubled her. So the magic dog knew he had to say something to help her relax.

"But it's cool, hanging with her's been helping Finn. And the doc told him he needed to get back in the dating game." Jake added to reassure Flame Princess, having no way of knowing that his words were doing the exact opposite.

Hearing that made Flame Princess feel terrible. She felt like she caused this. Jake's choice of words caused Flame Princess to think that she unintentionally made Finn depressed. So depressed that he lost his arm in a fight with someone, possibly his father because of the way Jake spoke of him at her birthday party. This depressed Flame Princess. Enough to where her hair was actually moving less than normal. All she could do now was tell Jake she's sorry, for anything she might have done to cause whatever to happen to Finn. But before she could do so, she heard her other guard call out to her.

"Your highness, what are the two of you doing standing here?" The guard shouted as he approached.

Flame Princess and the other guard, the one who stood beside her this whole time, turned to see him. He looked perfectly fine, but was definitely worried about something.

"Is everything okay?" The King of the Fire Kingdom asked.

"I'm not sure. Whatever was in those bushes, the thing that attacked me could be anywhere. I think it'd be best that we return the king to the inside of the castles walls." The guard said as he regained his breath.

"Okay." Flame Princess unhappily said, knowing it was for the best.

"Bye Jake." FP said before she and her guards turned into moving trails of fire, quickly disappearing behind the hills they pass.

* * *

Switching to Jake's point of view

* * *

"I know you're there Finn, so why didn't you just come out and tell her." Jake said to Finn, Jake knew he was hiding behind the corner of (the base of) the treehouse the entire time Flame Princess was talking to him.

Seeing as how Flame Princess &amp; her guards were gone and that Jake already knew he was here, Finn reluctantly stepped out of his hiding place. Doing so Jake saw that Finn's right arm, which was replaced by one made of grass and vines had spread to his shoulder.

"We never should've gotten you that grass sword." Jake stated, disappointed to see that curse it carried slowly consume Finn's body.

"It's not so bad actually." Finn lied as he demonstrated his new found botanokinesis by making some grass grow into the shape of Flame Princesses face.

After briefly staring at Flame Princesses face in the grass Finn let out a saddened sigh.

"And you're sure you're cool with this?" Jake skeptically asked, already knowing Finn'll probably lie.

"Jake if neither Marceline or PB can't find a way of reversing the curse you know what'll happen: my entire body will be made plants, trees, and stuff." Finn said to remind Jake.

"So until we can find a cure..." Finn was explaining before Jake cut in.

"If we find a cure..." Jake corrected.

"I can't go near Flame Princess, even with flame shield." Finn continued.

"Are you sure you don't wanna try buddy, in case we can't get you a cure? Cuz if we can't then you'll really have no chance to see her again." Jake said to Finn, trying to convince him to reconsider.

"Yeah, I'm sure..." Finn said as he stared at the burns Flame Princesses guard gave him in the forest by the house he built her.

**Author's Notes**

**Surprise, surprise. Even I'm impressed that I've actually written this chapter after over a year or so of absolutely nothing in regards to this or any of my other stories. Maybe I'll do something about that, I can't say that'll be for sure though. Follow, Favorite, Review, and blah blah blah.**


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